The drivers have been playing EuroMillions for almost three years and their win came six months after they had considered giving up because they were having no luck.

In the end, only one of the group pulled out – and he was replaced by another driver. Each is now £3,169,553 the richer.

Incredibly it is the fifth time in a row a UK ticket has taken the pan-European jackpot – a run that now includes three winners from the East Midlands.

Yesterday one of the lucky drivers, John Noakes, said he would be buying his wife Jean ‘whatever she wanted’ – as well as swapping his Nissan Primera for an Aston Martin.

The 49-year-old told the Daily Mail that after discovering they had won, the group called their boss at the Stagecoach depot in Corby to say they would not be coming to work on Saturday morning.

As a result, it is thought other staff and even managers were drafted in to run services through the former steel town. And Mr Noakes is one of several syndicate members to suggest the group’s absence will be more permanent. The driver, who has worked on the buses for 16 years, said: ‘My feeling would be that will be the end of our days behind the wheel of a bus now. Speaking for myself, I know I will not be returning and there are others in the same boat.'

He added: ‘We all gathered at one of the drivers’ homes on Friday night when we realised we had won. We stayed up through the night drinking tea until (lottery organiser) Camelot’s offices opened the next morning to lodge our claim, so there was no way we could have driven a bus that day in any case.’

In a happy twist, Mr Noakes’s wife is the sister of fellow syndicate member Charles Connor. Mr Connor, 40, who lives with partner Julie Farquhar and their three children in a flat in the town, said he would now be splashing out on a new car, albeit an ‘ordinary runabout’.

He said he had been working ‘horrendous’ 14-hour days to make ends meet, but now planned to ‘go back to school’ to learn a language and would also join a golf club.

‘I am glad I have won as part of a syndicate to be honest,’ he admitted. ‘The full £38million sounds utterly terrifying, £3.16million is daunting enough.’

Dreams come true: Mr Noakes has a passion for Aston Martin cars... now he can afford his own

Leaving en masse: All 12 of the workers are based at the Stagecoach bus depot in Corby, Northamptonshire

Another winner, Charles Gillion, 64, was already planning to retire later in the year, while colleague David Mead told relatives he had quit on the spot.

Mr Mead’s brother Graham said: ‘David was meant to be working the Saturday morning shift, but he phoned up his boss to tell him he would not be coming in and that he was quitting. He has since formally resigned.’

Mr Mead said his brother, a divorced father of four, lives with a long-term partner and plans to ‘buy a new car and look after his family’.

Other syndicate members were named locally as Stephen Derrick, 53, Alexander Robertson, Christopher Smith, Ally Spence, and Gary Symington, 36. Stagecoach refused to confirm or comment on the syndicate’s win last night, adding that it had received no resignations.

Camelot confirmed it had received a valid claim, but could not pay out until banks opened this morning. A decision would then be taken about whether the syndicate would publicise its win at a press conference. The jackpot was £38,034,640 and winning numbers were 3, 4, 12, 23 and 50. The Lucky Stars were 4 and 7.

Britain’s EuroMillions run began on January 20 when builder Gareth Bull and wife Catherine, of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, banked nearly £41million.

On February 7, Cassey Carrington and Matt Topham, also of Nottinghamshire, won more than £45million. Two further anonymous UK jackpot wins followed on February 24 and March 2.